Programme of Pope Francis’ October visit to Cesena, Bologna2017-04-18 Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) The Vatican has announced that Pope Francis will visit the northern Italian cities of Cesena and Bologna on Sunday, 1 October 2017.Please find below the full programme of Pope Francis’ visit:

07.00 Departure from Vatican Heliport

08.00 Arrival in helicopter at the Hippodrome of Cesena

Meeting with local people in Piazza del Popolo

Meeting with clergy, young people, and families in the Cathedral

10.00 Departure in helicopter from Hippodrome of Cesena

10.20 Arrival in Bologna

Visit to the regional Hub of Via Mattei

Meeting with young immigrants landed upon the Italian coast

12.00 Recitation of the Angelus in Piazza Grande, with the participation of representatives of the world of work

12.30 Lunch with poor people in the Basilica of San Petronio

14.30 Meeting with the clergy in the Cathedral

15.30 Meeting with university staff and students in the Basilica of San Domenico

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_mkdTAWVBs2017.10.01 - Pope Francis in Cesena - Meeting with local people Streamed live 16 hours agoINTERNATIONAL SOUND - Pope Francis, during his pastoral visit to Cesena, meets with local people

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbCYLCSxQKQ2017.10.01 - Pope Francis in Cesena - Meeting with the Church of Cesena Streamed live 15 hours agoINTERNATIONAL SOUND - Pope Francis, during his pastoral visit to Cesena, meets with clergy, lay persons, and representatives of the parishes and churches of Cesena.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFaPOcKIRR82017.10.01 - Pope Francis in Bologna - Meeting with the world of work and Angelus Streamed live 12 hours agoINTERNATIONAL SOUND - Pope Francis, during his pastoral visit to Bologna, meets with the world of work and unemployed persons. Afterwards, he recites the Angelus prayer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LPqy3D_6WM2017.10.01 - Pope Francis in Bologna - Meeting with Clergy and Consacrated Persons Streamed live 9 hours agoINTERNATIONAL SOUND - Pope Francis, during his pastoral visit to Bologna, meets with clergy and consecrated men and women.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4vVxdNZOA02017.10.01 - Pope Francis in Bologna - Meeting with students and the academic world Streamed live 8 hours agoINTERNATIONAL SOUND - Pope Francis, during his pastoral visit to Bologna, meets with students and the academic world

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYVyzeDNprw2010.10.01 - Pope Francis in Bologna - Celebration of Holy Mass Streamed live 7 hours agoINTERNATIONAL SOUND - Pope Francis celebrates Holy Mass for the faithful of the diocese, at the end of his pastoral visit to Bologna.

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Sunday delivered a lesson on good governance of a city saying it essentially consists in all working together for the common good with the help of good politics.

He was speaking to the people of the northern Italian city of Cesena where he arrived in the morning for a two-stop pastoral visit to the Emilia-Romagna region. He later visited the regional capital, Bologna, from where he flew back to the Vatican in the evening.

Visit Bologna: Meeting with workers and Angelus01/10/2017 12:32Pope Francis addresses the crowds outside of the Basilica of St Petronius during a Pastoral Visit to Bologna. - AFP(Vatican Radio) Arriving at Bologna following a morning visit to the town of Cesena, Pope Francis greeted representatives of the world of labour ahead of the Sunday Angelus.

In his address to workers, Pope Francis emphasized that it is only together that we can come through the present economic crisis and “build the future.” Only dialogue, he said, can help us find new and effective answers that can help everyone.

The Holy Father noted that in the region of Bologna, there has been a long experience of cooperation, an experience “that gives birth to the fundamental value of solidarity. Solidarity, he said, must never be bent toward to the logic of financial profit, which would harm the most needy amongst us. “Seeking a more just society,” he continued, “is not a dream of the past but a commitment, a work, that today needs everyone” to cooperate.

Pope in Bologna - meeting with migrants01/10/2017 12:50Pope Francis meeting migrants at a regional center for them in Bologna, Italy, Sunday, Oct. 1, 2017. - AP(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis is on a day-long visit to the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna on Sunday, where he is visiting the cities of Cesena and Bologna. After holding two meetings in Cesena, he flew to Bologna where his first appointment was the with migrants housed at a regional centre at Via Enrico Mattei.

Christ – accepted or rejected

Addressing a round a thousand of them housed there, Pope Francis said that many who don’t know them and are afraid, judge them from far with harshness and coldness. But, he said one needs to see them from nearby with mercy, for unless we see our neighbour with mercy, we cannot understand his suffering and problems. “In you, as in every stranger who knocks at our door, I see Jesus Christ, who identifies himself with the stranger of every age and condition, accepted or rejected,” the Holy Father told the migrants.

Pope in Bologna - meeting with priests and religious01/10/2017 17:45Pope Francis meeting religious and priests at Italy's Bologna cathedral on October 1, 2017. - ANSA(Vatican Radio) During his daylong visit on Sunday to Bologna in northern Italy, Pope Francis met priests, religious, seminarians and deacons in the city cathedral. He did not deliver a discourse but fielded two questions from them.

Priestly brotherhood

The diocesan priests asked the Pope how they could grow in evangelical brotherhood with their fellow priests. The Pope said they first need to have the sense of what he described as ‘diocesanità’ (Italian) or a sense of belonging to the body of priests along with their bishop. When a diocesan priest lacks this he becomes a loner and runs the risk of becoming ‘infertile’. In this regard, the Pope recalled the transparency of St. Paul who talked about things clearly without misleading and had the patience and tolerance for others.

Another trait of a diocesan priest is the figure of pastor among his people. Opposed to this, is the ‘clerical pastor’ like the Pharisees and Saducees of Jesus’time who live in their own world of theology, thoughts and dos and donts of the law. The Pope regretted that some priests transform their service into a syndicate office with rigid visiting hours.

Visit Bologna: Homily at Mass01/10/2017 15:36Pope Francis presides at the Solemn Mass in Bologna's Dell'Ara Stadium. - AFP(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis concluded his Pastoral Visit to the cities of Cesena and Bologna with a Solemn Mass in the Dall’Ara Stadium of Bologna.

In his homily, for what he called “the first Sunday of the Word,” Pope Francis reflected on the Word of God, which makes our hearts burn within us, because it makes us feel loved and consoled by the Lord.

The day’s Gospel relates Jesus’ parable of the two sons who were asked by their father to go to work in his vineyard. One son said no, but eventually went; while the other said yes, but did not go. “There is a great difference,” the Pope said “between the first son, who is lazy; and the second, who is a hypocrite.” Imagining their inner thoughts, Pope Francis said that the voice of the father resonated in the heart of the son, despite his initial no. In the second, on the other hand, the voice of the father “was buried.”

Like the two sons, the Pope said, we can choose to be either sinners on the journey, who continue to listen to the Father, and repent and rise when we fall; or to be seated sinners, hypocrites always ready to justify ourselves, and willing to do only what is convenient. Jesus, he continued, was very severe to the latter, saying that the public sinners would go before them into heaven. They were not wrong, he said, about how they thought about God and religion, but they were mistaken in how one must live the Christian life. He said they were inflexible guardians of human traditions, incapable of understanding that life according to God is a journey, and requires the humility to be open, to repent, and to begin anew.

The key word here, Pope Francis said, is repentance, which allows us to not be rigid, to transform the “no” to God into a “yes,” the “no” of sin into the “yes” of love of God. Ultimately, he said, “in the life of each one of us there are two paths: to be penitent sinners or hypocritical sinners.

Pope Francis prays for victims of Las Vegas shooting02/10/2017 15:42The Plaza where more than 50 people were killed in the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. Upon learning of the "senseless tragedy," Pope Francis has promised his prayers for the victims. - EPA

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has expressed his “spiritual closeness” to victims of the deadly shooting in Las Vegas, which left more than fifty people dead, and hundreds more wounded.Below please find the full text of the telegram sent on behalf of Pope Francis:

The Most Reverend Joseph Anthony Pepe Bishop of Las Vegas

Deeply saddened to learn of the shooting in Las Vegas, Pope Francis sends the assurance of his spiritual closeness to all those affected by this senseless tragedy. He commends the efforts of the police and emergency service personnel, and offers the promise of his prayers for the injured and for all who have died, entrusting them to the merciful love of Almighty God.

Pope at Mass: 'ask the Lord for the courage to follow Jesus' 03/10/2017 13:09(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has invited Christians to turn to God to in search of the courage and strength needed to follow Jesus in our lives.

Speaking on Tuesday morning during the homily at Mass in the Casa Santa Marta, the Pope reflected on Jesus’s journey to Jerusalem as the moment of His crucifixion drew near.

Accepting the will of his Father, Jesus – he said – resolutely determined to undertake that journey and announced His intention to the disciples.

Jesus: a model of determination and obedience

“Only once, the Pope recalled, in the Garden of Gethsemane did He ask the Father to ‘remove the cup of wrath He was about to drink’, but each time He submitted to the Father’s will.”

That’s what the Father wants of us, he said, determination and obedience, and He will await with infinite patience.

Francis went on to explain that the disciples did not follow their Master during his journey to Jerusalem.

Pope Francis' Prayer Intention for October: for Workers and the Unemployed 03/10/2017 14:38Pope Francis during a meeting with the workers of Italy's Ilva steel production company - ANSA(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has released a video message accompanying his monthly prayer intention for October.

This month’s intention is for Workers and the Unemployed: That all workers may receive respect and protection of their rights, and that the unemployed may receive the opportunity to contribute to the common good”

The Vatican announced October 3, 2017, that The Holy Father has accepted the resignation Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas, bishop of Tucson.

The Pope has appointed as bishop of Tucson, Bishop Edward J. Weisenburger, currently bishop of Salina.

H.E. Msgr. Edward J. Weisenburger was born on December 23. 1960, in Alton, in the diocese of Springfield, Illinois. After attending Edison Elementary School and Eisenhower High School in Lawton, Oklahoma, he studied philosophy at the Conception Seminary College in Conception, Missouri, and Theology at the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium. Later, he obtained a licentiate in canon law from the Saint Paul University in Ottawa, Canada.https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/new-tucson-bishop-played-key-role-in-rother-beatification-cause-40565New Tucson bishop played key role in Fr. Rother beatification cause

Cardinal Raymond Burke has said his appointment last week as a member of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, the Church’s highest judicial authority, is not a full-time position but will allow him to serve as one of the court's judges when requested.

“Some of the faithful have misunderstood the appointment, thinking that I am now returning to serve full-time in the offices of the Apostolic Signatura,” Cardinal Burke said in an Oct. 2 statement responding to enquiries from journalists. “Members of the Roman dicasteries, apart from the prefect, do not serve full-time but offer their assistance, when it is requested by the prefect.”The cardinal said his appointment will not change, or delay, his plans to issue a fraternal correction of the Pope if the Holy Father continues not to respond to the dubia.

Vatican City, Oct 2, 2017 / 05:00 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The September 19 re-establishment of the Pontifical John Paul II Theological Institute for Science on the Family and Marriage is a good object lesson in the modus operandi of Pope Francis. It offers observers some helpful lessons about the Roman Pontiff’s leadership style.

The John Paul II Pontifical Institute, founded by the late Polish Pope, whom Pope Francis calls the “Pope of the Family”, has developed as well-respected institution in theological circles. It is known to foster and promote theological discussions on family and marriage issues at twelve campuses around the world.

The institute’s work was mentioned in the 2014 Synod on the Family’s instrumentum laboris – its working document. It is worth noting, however, that no professors of the institute were invited to serve as theological experts to the 2014 Synod.

Fr. José Granados, however, who is one of the institute’s most prominent faculty members, was included among the participants of the 2015 Synod.

Nevertheless, some have suggested the institute seems to have been sidelined under Pope Francis.

This morning’s General Audience was held at 9:40 in St. Peter’s Square, where the Holy Father met with groups of pilgrims and faithful from Italy and from all over the world.

In his address in Italian, the Pope reflected on the theme “Missionaries of Hope Today.”

After summarizing his catechesis in several languages, the Holy Father expressed special greetings to groups of faithful present.

The General Audience ended with the singing of the Pater Noster and the Apostolic Blessing. * * *The Holy Father’s Catechesis

Dear Brothers and Sisters, good morning!

In this catechesis I wish to speak on the theme “Missionaries of Hope Today.” I am happy to do so at the beginning of this month, which the Church dedicates particularly to the mission, and also on the feast of Saint Francis of Assisi, who was a great missionary of hope!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fTFJ2sabpA2017.10.04 - General Audience

ROME — Pope Francis has invited Christian and non-Christian young people from around the world to a meeting in preparation for the Synod of Bishops on youth in 2018.

Before concluding his weekly general audience, the pope said the March 19-24, 2018, pre-synod meeting will be an opportunity for the church to listen to the hopes and concerns of young men and women.

“Through this journey, the church wants to listen to the voices, the sensibilities, the faith as well as the doubts and criticisms of young people. We must listen to young people,” Francis said Oct. 4.

The theme chosen by the pope for the Synod of Bishops, which will be held in October 2018, is: “Young people, faith and vocational discernment.”

The general secretariat of the synod said the initiative “will allow young people to express their expectations and desires as well as their uncertainties and concerns in the complex affairs of today’s world.”

Rome, Italy, Oct 4, 2017 / 12:03 am (CNA).- In November Pope Francis will visit Bangladesh and Burma, two developing countries in Asia, where he will bring a message of peace and coexistence amid persecution of minorities, a missionary priest said.

“The Pope's visit, in my opinion, will help to emphasize that coexistence helps the future of the country, not conflict,” Fr. Bernardo Cervellera told CNA.

In particular, Pope Francis will address the plight of the long-persecuted Rohingya people, in whose defense he has spoken out many times.

Rejected by Buddhist fundamentalist groups – Burma's religious majority – the Muslim ethnic group has been largely turned away from the Muslim country of Bangladesh as well, where they have sought refuge.

“So these people don't have a country, they are migrants in the full sense of the term, they have nowhere to lie their head,” Cervellera said.Cervellera, a priest of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME) and editor-in-chief of AsiaNews, has spent time in both Burma and Bangladesh. He spoke about Francis’ upcoming visit to Bangladesh and Burma, also known as Myanmar, Nov. 27-Dec. 2.

Pope Francis at Mass in Santa Marta: rediscover your roots05/10/2017 12:08Pope Francis at Mass in Santa Marta, Oct 5, 2017(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis said Mass in the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta on Thursday morning. In remarks to the faithful following the Readings of the Day, the Holy Father reflected on the importance of keeping tethered to our roots – especially our spiritual roots – and avoiding what he called “psychological self-exile”.

Taking as his starting point the reading from the Book of Nehemiah, in which the prophet recounts Ezra’s reading of the law to the whole assembly of the people before their re-entrance into the holy city, Jerusalem, after some seventy years of Babylonian captivity, Pope Francis recalled the nostalgic tears of Nehemiah – who was cup-bearer to the Persian king, Ataxerxes, at Babylon.

Then Pope Francis recalled the verse of Psalm 137, which says, “Upon the rivers of Babylon, there we sat and wept: when we remembered Sion[.]”

The Pope also reflected on the “nostalgia of migrants,” those who are, “far from home and want to return.”

Pope Francis: Proclaim the Gospel to all without fear05/10/2017 11:24The Holy Bible being read - AP(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Thursday received a delegation from the Church Relations Committee of the United Bible Societies telling them that "the word of God enlightens, protects, defends, heals and frees.”

Speaking to the delegation Pope Francis began by highlighting the role they play in making “the Bible more easily accessible in diverse languages and in today’s wide variety of communication media.”

He told them that, “we are servants of the word of salvation, which, he added, never returns to the Lord empty.” The Holy Father also underlined the importance of, as he called it, nourishing ourselves “at the table of the word by reading, listening, studying and bearing witness with our lives.”

Pope Francis urges Iraqi Chaldean bishops to be builders of unity05/10/2017 13:41Pope Francis embraces the Primate of the Chaldean Church, Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako, during his audience with Chaldean Bishops(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has urged leaders of the Chaldean Church to be builders of unity, favouring dialogue and collaboration between all actors of Iraqi society.

The Pope was addressing bishops in Rome for the Synod of the Chaldeans, taking place from 4 to 8 October. The Chaldean Church is headed by Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako, Archbishop of Baghdad.

Amongst the main topics of discussion are the Kurdish referendum and the return of Christian refugees in the Nineveh Plain.

Pope defends human dignity under attack from “technocratic materialism‎"05/10/2017 15:15Pope Francis addressing members of Pontifical Academy for Life in the Vatican, Oct. 5, 2017. - REUTERS(Vatican Radio) One cannot be silent in the face of an “unscrupulous materialism” that marks the alliance between economy and technology, and that treats life as a resource to be exploited or discarded by power and profit. “Unfortunately men, women and children the world over are experiencing the bitterness and pain of the “illusory promises” of this “technocratic materialism”, said Pope Francis on Thursday.

He was speaking to the members of the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy for Life (PAV) at the start of their 2-day general assembly in Rome. The Oct. 5-6 meeting is holding a workshop on the theme “Accompanying Life: New Responsibilities in the Technological Era.”

Technology against person and life

In the face of the effects of recent technological developments in life sciences and the power of biotechnologies that permit extensive manipulation of life, unthinkable until recently, Pope Francis urged for a behavior that is consistent with the dignity of the human person and of life and its meaning and value. The Pope observed that contrary to the welfare promised by this “technocratic materialism” with the expansion of the market, what we are witnessing is widening territories of poverty, conflict, waste and abandonment, resentment and despair. ‎Instead, he said, authentic scientific and technological progress should inspire more humane policies.

In this regard, the Holy Father said, Christian faith and the Church’s rich tradition of enlightened minds can inspire today’s believers repair the “fracture between generations” that interrupts the transmission of life. The life of ‎fathers and mothers in advanced age wants to be honoured for what they have generously given, and not be discarded for what they don’t have any more, he said.

Neutralizing sexual differences is not a right

In this initiative, the Word of God sheds light on the origin of life and it destiny, the Pope said. The narrative of creation should be read as God’s act of love that entrusts creation and history to the alliance between man and woman. But neither of them can alone assume this responsibility, because they were created together in their blessed difference. In this regard, the Pope said, recent effort to assert the dignity of a person by radically neutralizing sexual differences and the understanding of man and woman is not right. He said, the utopia of the “neuter”, ‎removes both the human dignity of the sexually different ‎constitution as well as the personal quality of the ‎”generative transmission of life”.